Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix saw Michael Schumacher clinching yet another victory, but perhaps the biggest news was that Jenson Button, after 68 starts, finally got his first Formula One podium. Richard Barnes looks at Button's personal triumph and reviews the weekend's events

Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang might have been Michael Schumacher's race, but it was Jenson Button's triumph. After four full seasons and two races, 68 Grands Prix into his career, the young Briton finally secured the podium which had threatened to stay forever out of his grasp.

It wasn't as though the new BAR team leader hadn't come close before. He'd done it often enough to believe that the final podium position must surely be jinxed. On no less than five occasions, Button finished in fourth place - at Germany in his debut season with Williams in 2000, twice (in Austria and Japan) for BAR in 2003, in Brazil for Renault in 2002 and, most frustratingly, in Malaysia the race before.

In the closing stages of Malaysia 2002, Button had run briefly in second place before deferring to the vastly superior pace of Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams. Entering the final lap, Button still held a gallant third, before his suspension broke. Not terminally, but enough to slow him to a crawl and allow a fast-finishing Michael Schumacher past for the final podium spot. It was fitting that Sepang, the circuit that had robbed him so cruelly two years ago, should prove to be the scene of Button's best ever finish on Sunday.

Button occupies an awkward spot in the F1 hierarchy, neither established and successful enough to be considered one of the 'old guard', nor young and explosive enough to rate among the current 'young guns' - Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Yet, without Button, it's doubtful whether Raikkonen, in particular, would have been given the trust of the F1 establishment so easily.

Button's signing by Frank Williams for 2000 marked one of the most meteoric rises to F1 on record. In the space of just four years, Button made the successive leaps from karting to Formula Ford to Formula Three to Formula One. With just a handful of F3 starts to his credit, the news of Button's signing raised plenty of eyebrows, and the sport's commentators were moved to wonder aloud if Button's arrival didn't pose an unacceptable safety risk to the other drivers.

Button's calm and mature approach soon silenced his detractors. In his first race in Australia, the 20-year old from Somerset ran in the points, albeit only for one lap, before succumbing to engine problems 12 laps from the finish. A race later in Brazil, he scored his first championship point. Button's smooth and patient style may not have been as eye-catching as the early Ayrton Senna or Jean Alesi, but his remarkable maturity did pave the way for Kimi Raikkonen's almost equally inexperienced graduation to the premier formula one year later.

If fate dealt Button a kind hand by granting him an F1 drive so early in his career, it certainly compensated in his employers' choice of stable-mates. In short order, Button was required to compete against four of the most experienced and intimidating drivers in F1, in Ralf Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve. On top of it, like so many other drivers in the sport, Button suffered the misfortune of being in the wrong car at just the wrong time. He left Williams just as they became competitive, joined Benetton-Renault at their lowest ebb, left as soon as they promised greater things, and then found himself in the midst of the Villeneuve-Richards maelstrom at perennially under-performing BAR-Honda.

To his credit, Button has always just put his head down and got on with racing. It's just reward that, after a tough four-year apprenticeship in the sport, the Briton is finally acknowledged as the team leader of a rejuvenated and competitive BAR outfit. It's taken him longer than Raikkonen, Alonso and Webber to emerge as a blue chip prospect, although none of the young guns will begrudge Button his long-overdue success on Sunday.

At the same time, the young guns had such a disappointing weekend that it's unlikely they even noticed. As the only genuine championship protagonist among the three, Raikkonen's woes are ostensibly the worst. After using early season consistency to frustrate rival Michael Schumacher's championship aspirations at the same stage last year, it is Raikkonen's turn to feel the sting of the new points system.

Even if the Finn manages to contrive five straight victories starting in Bahrain, Schumacher needs only to finish second on each occasion and Raikkonen will have erased only half of the current championship deficit. With the Ferraris revving up to 2,000 rpm higher than the McLarens and Renaults at times on Sunday, and never once looking even slightly vulnerable to failure, a 20-point head start is way more than Raikkonen could afford. He knows it, Michael Schumacher knows it, and the German is loving every minute of it.

Renault's Fernando Alonso still has the luxury of taking things race by race, concentrating more on the odd spectacular victory than a concerted season-long drive for the championship. Even still, overcooking it on the single qualifying lap, scrapping with David Coulthard for the minor placings and finishing half a minute behind teammate Jarno Trulli was not on the agenda.

It's hard to imagine how Mark Webber's current stock could be higher. Although outdragging Michael Schumacher off the line and leading a Grand Prix in a Jaguar would have done the job admirably. Before the start, Webber had every reason to feel positive. If Michael Schumacher has one weakness, it's his starts. Instead, it was the Australian who struggled away from the line, and things got progressively worse from there.

Webber's future seems assured, with several top drives in the offing. Nevertheless, the Australian will rue the missed opportunity. With McLaren, Williams, Renault and BAR pushing hard to eliminate early season teething problems and bound to become faster as the season develops, Webber may not get such an opportunity again this season. In a sport where critics have notoriously short memories and the most important race performance is the most recent one, Webber had good reason to fume at his misfortune.

If Webber can take any consolation from Malaysia, it's the fact that even Michael Schumacher has days like that. Customarily, the German will shrug, smile and exclaim "That's racing". Although of course it's easier to be philosophical when you already own almost every record in the book.

For now, the German is in another of those purple patches where he seemingly cannot be anything other than perfect. It's the sort of carefree yet focused and relentless excellence that was best summed up by an American PGA golfer when describing a maddeningly error-free rival - "He's out there painting Mona Lisas while the rest of us are haemorrhaging".

It's not over yet by any means, and even Schumacher would have been surprised that Jenson Button's BAR trailed him home by only 11 seconds. That won't cause any undue concern for Schumacher, but it has certainly energised Button. Even if it means an easier championship ride for Schumacher, a competitive BAR, with Button snatching points away from his more highly-rated rivals like Montoya and Raikkonen, could inject some extra interest into the rest of the season.

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